An abundance of scholarships for Rotorua students

Year 13 student Brenna Douglas is leaving Rotorua Lakes on a high note.

She will head to Otago University next year to study health science with a $35,000 scholarship to ease the financial pressure. The scholarship is awarded to students who have achieved academic excellence.

Douglas is one of an impressive number of Rotorua secondary school students to receive financial scholarships for the 2019 academic year and one of two Rotorua Lakes High students to be awarded scholarships with $30,000 or more.

Emma Jackson, also from Lakes High, will head to Victoria University with a $30,000 Victoria Kahotea Scholarship, a $1000, Soroptimist Karen Trautmann Scholarship and a $500 GHA Te Amokapua Maori Scholar award.

As well as the Otago excellence scholarship, Douglas also received the Auckland University Maori Academic Excellence Award worth $20,000.

Douglas shared the school’s proxime accessit title (runner up to dux) this year and said she can’t quite believe her time at Rotorua Lakes has come to an end.

“It’s been an awesome five years,” Douglas said. “I’ve loved every minute of my time at Lakes High and am grateful for all of the help and support I have received.”

Douglas said she applied for a lot of scholarships and was stoked to have been successful with two of the bigger ones.

“It will make a huge difference to my time at Otago.”

She said while looking forward to moving to Dunedin, it was also a little scary.

Rotorua Lakes High School principal Bruce Walker said tertiary scholarships provided a huge opportunity for several students.

“We have a teacher at the school who works with students to apply for scholarships. Many provincial, public school students think it’s not worth applying for available scholarships because they think Auckland private school students will have them all wrapped up.

“We encourage them to apply for everything they can.”

Walker said the benefit of a scholarship was not just financial.

“There are so many other opportunities attached to many of them, like summer work or other forms of training. I also think students who receive a scholarship start at a university already known to the faculty.”

He also congratulated community groups and organisations within Rotorua who came together and created scholarships.

“St David’s Church in Owhata gives a $500 scholarship out each year and I applaud the church and others who do this.”